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"UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE..

w. MT. sTOEM, OE NEW YORK, N. Y., AssIGNon To ALLAN OIIMMINGs, `or sAME rLAcE.

APPARATUS FOR STAMPING MILK-CANS.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 2 l,473, lated September '7, 1858.

To all whom. t may concern:

Be it known that I, WILLIAM MONTGOMERY STORM, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented a new and. Improved Press for Stamping Milk-Cans, and I do hereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings,form ing part of this specification, in which- Figure lis a perspective View of a milk-can marked by my improved method. Fig. 2 is an elevation of the stamping-press which I employ for the purpose. Fig. 3 is a plan of the same. Figs. 4. and 5 are respectively a plan and section of one of the trade-mark plates which I employ.

Similar letters of reference indicate like parts in the several iigures.

To explain the object of my invention, it will be necessary first to state that much of the milk used in cities is conveyed in cans from the country producers to the city dealers by railroad, and the empty cans are returned by similar conveyance, and as in every train or every car conveying milk there will be cans belonging to severa] owners,it is necessary that each can should be marked in a conspicuous manner with the names or initials of the owner, that it Inay be identified. The common method is to apply on the breast of the can, which is the most conspicuous part, letters of sheetbrass, which are attached by soldering; but the cans are frequently stolen and their identication prevented by the removal of these letters. Again, it is common for the manufacturers of cans to attach a trademark stamped in thin sheet-brass by soldering to the can, and other dishonest manufacturers obtaining eans for repair or by other means will frequently remove the trade-m ark of the ori ginal manufacturer and attach their own as a means of advertising.

The object of my invention is to prevent the removal both of the proprietors mark and the manufacturers trade-mark. I prevent the removal of the former by producing raised or sunk letters in the metal (tin-plate) of which the can is constructed. This could be done in a common stamping-press if the parties requiring the cans would allow the manufacturer time to make the cans after receiving their orders, in which case the plates would be stamped before being made up into the cans; but this is not customary, and the manufacturer is required to keep the cans on hand, so that it is only necessary on receiving an order to mark them.

It has been the want of some suitable, convenient means of producing the letters in the plates of metal ot' which the can is composed after they have been made that has caused the old system of marking by soldering on the letters to be adhered to; and it is in a press for producing the letters in the metal of which the can is composed that my invention consists, such press being used in such a manner as to provide at the same time for the convenient and secure attachment of trademarks.

IO explain my method of producing the letters, I will first describe the small portable stampingpress which I employ in the process.

A is an iron block', which may be considered as the bed of the press, curved, as shown in Fig. 1, to correspond nearly with the interior of the breast of the can, and having securely and permanently attached to it the rods B B, which connect the head-block C. This headblock is curved like the bedpiece A, and is made of a form somewhat resembling the letter S, as shown in Fig. 8, in order that it may be disconnected from the rods B B by turning it in the manner shown in Fig. 2 in red outline. The said rods B B are provided with heads b b, Fig. 2, large enough to prevent the head-block passing over them.

D is the follower, curved to correspond with the bed-piece and head-block, and having secured to it guide-rods E E, which work through holes in the, head-block.

G is a screw screwing through the headblock and having the follower attached.

F F are movable dies fitted into the bedpiece A, and having cut, engraved, or otherwise produced upon them the names or letters to be produced upon the cans.

F F are corresponding dies fitted to the follower. One sct of these dies have the names or letters raised upon them, and the other set have them sunk within them, and the two sets' are so arranged that the elevated letters of the one set fit into the depressed onesof the other. The dies are all made movable, that different letters or names may be used in the same press.

To stamp a can with this press two circular holes are made in thebreast of the can of snitable size and at a suitable distance apart to receive the rods B B, while the dies F F are in a position to stamp the can in the proper place. The position of these holes is indicated by the circles a a in Fig. l. The bed-piece and attached rods B B Without the head-block and follower are then passed into the can through its mouth, and the rods B B are passed through the holes a to the exterior of the can, where the head-block and the follower are applied to them. The screw G is then screwed up to draw the follower and bed-piece toward each other, and bring the dies upon the can with sufficient force to produce the impression of their letters upon it. When this has been done, the screw G is turned back far enough to loosen its grip and the bead-block C turned out of the way of the rods B B, as shown in Fig. 3 in red color, leaving the rods B B free to be removed from the holes by withdrawal into the can. The two holes formed to receive the rods B B ofthe press are closed up by circular plates H H, one of which is represented in Figs. 4L and 5. On these plates are stamped or engraved the trade-mark, the said plates being made with a depression, b b', to fit the holes, and with a flange, c c, to be soldered to the can all round the hole. This method of applying the trade-mark plates renders it much more difficult to change them than when they are simply flat plates soldered to the face of the metal'of the can, as those which are to be substituted must be of a proper size to fit the holes. a

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

The press with the counterpart die-bearers forming segments of two concentric circles to t the exterior and interior of the breast7 of Y a narrow-mouthed can, and having the movable S shaped head-block carrying the follower by guide-rods, as shown, on the one part or `dic-bea`rcr, while the counterpart die-bearer 

